18 BULLETIN" 211, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



custom to allow all stock of whatever ownership to water at any 

 watering place, and the man who would exclude any of his neighbors' 

 stock from his water troughs would be ostracized. But this necessity 

 of the business makes it possible for the stingy or thievish man to 

 "edge in" on every other owner in his district. He "develops" 

 water at a certain place, but not in sufficient quantity to supply 

 the number of animals he puts upon the range. It follows that his 

 animals get some of their water from his neighbors, and water costs 

 money in the range country at any place. Thus, the small man is a 

 thorn in the side, especially of the large owner who has a first-class 

 equipment. The latter may retaliate by throwing large numbers of 

 his stock into the small man's range long enough to eat it out in a 

 short time, or by instituting legal proceedings on trumped-up charges, 

 thereby causing the small man loss of time and unnecessary expendi- 

 ture of money. These are but a few of the more patent of the 

 competitive methods in use among cattlemen, and another similar set 

 is to be found among the large and small sheepmen. 



The battles between the sheep and cattle industries have been told 

 time and again. The sheepman has the advantage in most respects. 

 His stock are herded all the time; they can be held on any spot as 

 long as he desires; if held long enough they will practically obliterate 

 the vegetation on such an area; they require much less water than 

 cattle, and with green succulent feed may go for long periods without 

 any water at all; they may be driven in almost any place where other 

 stock can go. He is thus able to drive over a cattleman's range and 

 leave desolation in his wake if he wants to; and he may do this, too, 

 without overstepping his legal rights. 



For convenience in handling the sheep at night, the herders build 

 Drush corrals. These corrals burn readily after the brush is dry. 

 When not in a corral, sheep may easily be stampeded and scattered 

 at night. A herder's camp fire at night is a conspicuous target, but 

 the immediate vicinity is very unsafe when rifle practice at such 

 target is going on, and a band of sheep without a herder is soon lost. 

 Such gentle hints as any of these may be taken to indicate to the 

 sheepman that it is time for him to move on. 



The industry is now developed to such a state that if a man wishes 

 to enter it he must either buy a range and its rights or develop some of 

 the few remaining unoccupied areas, where water is hard to obtain 

 and where the supply of feed is scanty and uncertain. In either case, 

 lie must be able to invest considerable capital in the business. This 

 means that the industry is upon a much more permanent basis and 

 is consequently more highly organized. 



Perhaps no other demand of the business is so well recognized by 

 all those interested in it as the desirability of control of the range, 



